The more you drive, the less intelligent you are

At the Union of B.C. Municipalities convention, Gordon Campbell said: “As Einstein so clearly stated, the world will not evolve past its current state of crisis by using the same thinking that created this situation.”

But his actions remind me of Einstein’s definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, yet expecting the results to be different.

For generations, cities have tried to cope with too many cars by expanding roads. Over and over, the results have been loss of homes, farmland, wetlands, and forests. Toxic emissions and road accidents are leading causes of death and injury. Car dependency consumes income needed for housing and education and weakens communities in numerous ways. Ironically, the cities that have invested most in car infrastructure suffer the worst congestion and longest commute times.

The Gateway program would perpetuate this insanity by increasing capacity for single-occupant vehicles while delaying and impeding development of a comprehensive transit system.

Carole James recognizes the futility of trying to move masses of people with cars, and characterized the program as “yesterday’s solution for tomorrow’s problem”. This is not quite accurate; it epitomizes yesterday’s nonsolutions, and why we are in a global environmental crisis today.